Posted by Commander Roman Alden (First Officer & Chief Science Officer) in side-sim: The Reckoning

Posted by Ensign Rand Farquharson (Yeoman First Class) in side-sim: The Reckoning

Posted by Commander Roman Alden (First Officer & Chief Science Officer) in side-sim: The Reckoning

(snip)

Roman was actually worried about the paperwork, he liked it done on time. But there was other work he’d rather worry about. Once again, his heart rate started increasing, reacting to his stress. He continued on, listing work and things that needed doing. “All the samples and recording and notes from Kelmao need to be gone through, I’m sure my regular work is piling up as well. Research notes, my department’s other projects to deal with. My first officer’s reports and work. Everything is is going to be late. It’s got to be-” Roman stopped talking abruptly, looking at Rand when she said his name.

She squeezed his hand at regular intervals, inhaling as she did. Then her grip would relax and she’d exhale. It took several breaths before Roman caught on and his breathing started to follow hers. His heart rate slowed but it was still elevated over what it had been and over the range it was supposed to stay in. “Everything will be late. There’s going to be so much to do.” His tone was more controlled, his voice quieter. Another few breaths passed and finally, he looked up at her again. Rand stressed the ‘we’s in her statements again, reminding him he wasn’t alone to deal with it anymore. For a few tense moments, he said nothing, still looking at her, his breathing faster than her intervals. Finally, he said, “…Alright.”

She smiled a little lopsided at him. “You know they call me the paperwork tyrant for a reason. And we were gone three days, some of it is expected to be delayed, but it will not be late. I promise.” She wished Randy would leave so she could hug Roman, but she knew until Elbbirt came in that wasn’t going to happen. Her voice was almost a whisper. “I know it’s all too much, I do.” She understood, she felt like that all the time, “But who better than me to help?”

Roman nodded again. She looked like she did when she was going to hug him, but she didn’t. Maybe because Randy was present? He kind of wished she’d do it anyway. He smiled at her. “There’ll never be anyone better than you to help.”

Rand grinned and blushed slightly. Then, despite Randy being around, she hugged him. He needed it and so did she. She hugged him for a long time, breathing deeply and just trying to make him feel better.

“You can have something to drink, water or juice to start with. If it stays down we’ll move on to something more substantial, maybe ice cream,” he grinned as Rand looked up clearly interested. If Roman didn’t know it yet, a constant supply of ice cream was the quickest way to distract Rand from anything. “Cold drinks usually help you wake up, clear the fog some.”

Roman did not know that, ice cream had not come up between them. He didn’t miss Rand’s eagerness at its mention though. He did not feel hungry or thirsty just yet, but if it would help him finish waking up… “Tea isn’t on the menu yet, then? Shame. Suppose I’ll take the cold water then.” He certainly wasn’t as interested in ice cream as Rand, but it wasn’t that he didn’t like it or anything. “If you’re worried about things staying down, wouldn’t dairy be a poor choice?” He questioned.

Randy shook his head, “Nausea after surgery has more to do with the thickness/heaviness of what you consume than what it’s made of. Now if you’d had surgery on your digestive system, then it would be a consideration.”

Roman nodded, that made sense. He was more familiar with what would upset a sick stomach than a post surgical one.

Roughly 12 minutes later Elbbirt walked in just as the regenertators beeped the end of their cycle. “Ah Cmdr. I’m glad to see you’re already sitting up. We’re going to take some images while we talk, see how everything looks.” He turned to Rand, “As for you, you and I are going to talk later.” Rand sat up a little straighter, eyes wide, “Randy said I could be in here!” she blurted out. It was everything Elbbirt could do not to laugh. “Right he was. But reinjuring that same broken ankle…tsk tsk. I don’t like it. We’re going to have to have a long look at your foot. So you hop along back to your biobed and I’ll talk to you in a few.”

“But my 12 hours are up.” She looked at Roman and then Randy. She didn’t want to leave. Elbbirt could do whatever he wanted with her and her foot as long as she could stay there. “So they are, but I still don’t have your report on what happened yet, which is very unlike you.” Rand looked like a fish out of water. “I’ve been in sickbay. It’s on my PaDD from the landing team.” Elbbirt nodded, “Well we will send someone for it. In the meantime scoot, confidentiality and all that.” He looked at Alden, “Unless, of course you don’t mind if she stays Cmdr.” Randy turned away hiding a grin while he got the lens ready. Elbbirt was a devious old man.

Rand

Roman nodded. He wondered if Elbbirt already knew how the process of getting him sat up had gone. He glanced at the lens. “More images?” He protested. He must have been feeling more like himself, his defiant, argumentative side was showing itself again. Rand blurted her permission to be here and Roman had to smile a little. At least she drew attention away from him for a moment.

Elbbirt went about what he was doing, Alden’s attitude not phasing him at all. It made his work more difficult but the return of Alden’s attitude so soon after waking up was a good sign. “Of course more images, how else will we know how the sessions are going and how you are healing. I’m not a super hero from 20th century Earth comics with x-ray vision.”

Roman huffed. At least keeping his leg still enough for the scans was not a problem. But he still didn’t like it. He wanted to leave. He wanted his work. He did not want more scans.

He gripped her hand tighter when Elbbirt told her to ‘hop along back’ to her biobed. Roman didn’t want her to go anywhere either. He still didn’t seem like he liked being here but he was certainly more relaxed than if Elbbirt made Rand go away. Elbbirt turned to Roman and asked if he minded if she stayed. He didn’t know Elbbirt already knew, but they had decided already it wasn’t a secret. They’d even been on a public date before the landing party. Roman answered confidently. “Certainly she can stay, all she likes.” He almost added she’s my girlfriend, but he wasn’t sure Rand would be comfortable with that declaration. He was sure Elbbirt wasn’t the type to go spreading rumors, so he wasn’t worried about it.

Rand was so relieved she wasn’t leaving she didn’t even worry about how or when Elbbirt found out. She settled back into her chair and reached for his hand again. But not for long. Randy came and scooted her and her chairs out of the way. “Need room to move the imager around,” he explained to her and then said something softly in Gaelic. It made Rand turn red and look embarrassed, but she mouthed off back to Randy so it must be okay.

As the images and scan results were taken Elbbirt explained them all to Alden making sure to be clear and concise. And leaving time for Alden to ask any questions he might have.

The images, when they were taken, would show marked improvement in his leg. The surgery had successfully removed all of the irreparable and dead tissues, and it seemed the transplanted blood vessels were doing their job well. Blood flow looked good. The tissue graft had begun to bind to the surrounding tissues, but the damage to the surrounding tissues was making it a slow going process. If they looked for it, there was a lot of neural activity, it was hard to tell exactly what was going on, but his body screaming ‘pain’ was probably an accurate description. Some of the nerves were damaged from the lack of blood flow, and from everything else that had gone on in his leg, but with any luck, they would heal. His body had broken down some of the smaller clots, but many were still visible when scans looking for them were taken. The neural block was placed and doing exactly what it was supposed to do, none of the pain impulses (or any impulses) from his leg were reaching his brain, preventing him from sensing the pain.

It would probably take two to three or so days for the potassium and myoglobin to drop to an allowable level, longer to be gone completely. A lot had built up because of how long the dead muscle had been left to decay, and how much dead muscle there had been. The medicines, one which would bind with the excess potassium and neutralize it and the other to help his kidneys function and protect them while they tried to filter the myoglobin, were keeping everything stable. His kidneys were under stress, but not being damaged. His resting heart rate was still high, currently sitting just over 100, but that wouldn’t be a problem if it didn’t stay higher than that, besides mild symptoms of a rapid heart beat. His heart rhythm was regular besides being fast, so that was good. Because his heart beat was still fast, his breathing was a little fast, as it had been before.

With the rate the graft was binding to his leg, and how his heart and kidneys were acting, he would need to continue to take it easy at least the next few days. Overexertion would slow the healing process, keep his body in its current condition longer. Anything to push that heart rate up would be both dangerous and ill-advised. And of course, moving that muscle would be a bad idea all around. The attachment to the existing tissue was new and tender, easily broken, which would set back his progress. The nerves needed time to heal, time to rest. He needed to be letting them do that.

~ Roman

“The neuro-regenerator is confined to sickbay. So from the looks of these scans, as long as the next two sessions go well, that one will be done. Then we can work on removing the nerve block and finding a pain medication routine that works. One where your body stays relaxed and doesn’t tax itself, but with as few side effects on you so you are comfortable. So....” he looked at the scans again, “a day and half. Then you can finish bed rest in your quarters. The dermal regenerator is portable, but that will take at least a week. More if you move the leg too much. It is also very important to keep your heart rate down until all the toxins are out of your system, but that’s just another couple of days. Any questions, concerns, complaints?”

Elbbirt

Finishing his bed rest in his quarters sounded good. A load of painkillers, not so much. And the dermal regenerator for a week… Roman shook his head. Complaints? Oh yes. Several. But Roman bit his tongue, holding back the biting remarks to go with the complaints as well. He finally thought of something he could ask that wouldn’t make Elbbirt tell him off again. “How long am I supposed to be on the pain medication?”

~ Roman

“The goal is to have you back in your labs in six and half days. In order to do that you can’t be on the strong pain killers. Anti-inflammatories, yes, but not pain killers. So you will start on them after we remove the nerve block and we will immediately weaning you off of them. Longer stretches, lower doses. If everything goes well and as expected then you’ll have one to two days of just anti-inflammatories before going back to duty.”

Ellbirt

Six days was still far too long to be off work, and he wasn’t allowed to do anything while on pain killers. At least it wasn’t longer. And only a few days of pain killers. What annoyed him just then were the heart rate issues. He did hardly anything, it started going up. Would they really expect him to do absolutely nothing for six days? He reluctantly nodded.

~ Roman

Rand was facing him away from Elbbirt and she winked at him. Elbbirt might want him to do nothing, but Rand could get around that. He just had to work with her, not against them all. Something was bothering him though, something specific, she could tell from the look on his face, but wasn’t sure what it was. She squeezed his hand again her look questioning. If he would just say what it was or ask the question they could get an answer. And answers were better than just wondering and worrying.

Rand

Roman caught her wink and understood what she meant. Like before, with the light duty, she had an idea how to get him around doing nothing for a week. He wasn’t sure how she planned to get him around it, he couldn’t do anything duty related while he was on strong pain medicine. After that, though, then maybe. She squeezed his hand and gave him a questioning look. He glanced at Elbbirt and then shook his head, a silent nothing. Elbbirt had said it would be a few more days for the chemicals to balance and clear his system, then it would be fine. He sort of wanted to ask about it but no, he wasn’t going to.

~ Lt Cmdr Alden, XO/CSO

If Rand or Randy had known what he was thinking he would have gotten a lecture about his stubbornness being detrimental to his health. And Rand would have been even more angry than she was on the planet.

With no more questions Elbbirt stood up. “Well then, I will see you again in a couple of hours to start the next round with the regenerators. Randy, if you would.” And he nodded toward Rand. Randy walked over, scooped her off the chair and deposited her on the other biobed in the room. “Smile for the camera Rand.”

Rand let out a surprised squeak at being picked up and deposited. Randy sounded like a photographer taking pictures of a runway model, but he was only taking pictures of her foot. He was convincing too, and it was completely comical. It also served to keep Rand from worrying about what they were doing with the images and extra scans and tests. Elbbirt found it unprofessional, but allowed it only because they were siblings. “You will stay here for the time being Yeoman. I want to make sure there isn’t any underlying issue with that foot before I release you. I’ll be back.”

Randy moved Rand back to her perch next to Alden. He set two cups of ice water within reach. “Press the buzzer if you need me.” And then he left. Rand blinked in the sudden silence and then leaned over to rest her head against Roman.

Rand